HC Deb 17 November 2000 vol 356 cc801-4W
Mr. Hilary Benn

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people in(a) the City of Leeds and (b) the Leeds, Central constituency have been in receipt of (i) Income Support, (ii) Disability Living Allowance, (iii) Incapacity Benefit, (iv) Unemployment Benefit and (v) Housing Benefit in each of the last 10 years. [138261]

Mr. Bayley

The administration of benefits is a matter for Alexis Cleveland, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. She will write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from Alexis Cleveland to Mr. Hilary Benn, dated 16 November 2000: The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to respond to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many people in (a) the City of Leeds and (b) the Leeds Central constituency have been in receipt of (i) income support, (ii) disability living allowance, (iii) incapacity benefit, (iv) unemployment benefit, and (v) housing benefit in each of the last 10 years. The data is not available in the requested format, however, the information that is available is supplied in the attached tables. I hope this is helpful.

(i) Income Support claimants
Year Leeds local authority Leeds, Central constituency
May 1990 59,500 —
May 1991 61,100 —
May 1992 68,100 —
May 1993 74,600 —
May 1994 75,500 —
May 1995 71,000 —
May 1996 69,300 —
May 1997 48,500 —
May 1998 47,700 —
August 1998 — 10,500
May 1999 46,900 10,300
May 2000 47,300 10,800

Notes:

  1. 1. Constituency information represents constituency boundaries as at May 1997.
  2. 2. Parliamentary constituency data are only available from August 1998 onwards. These data were collated in the quarterly statistics as quoted in source, but data prior to August 1998 could not be collected as there was no methodology to collate the information at this time.
  3. 3. The numbers are based on either 1 per cent. or 5 per cent. sample data and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling error.
  4. 4. Numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred.
  5. 5. Income Support Figures prior to 1997 include unemployed cases.
  6. 6. Jobseeker's Allowance replaced Unemployment Benefit and Income Support for the unemployed from October 1996.

Sources:

Income Support Statistics Quarterly Enquiries, May 1990–May 1994 (1 per cent. samples)

Income Support Statistics Quarterly Enquiries, May 1995–May 2000 (5 per cent. samples)

(ii) Disability Living Allowance recipients
Year Leeds local authority Leeds, Central constituency
May 1993 15,800 —
May 1994 17,300 —
May 1995 19,900 —
May 1996 21,500 —
May 1997 23,300 —
May 1998 24,705 4,543
May 1999 24,997 4,567
May 2000 26,054 4,702

Notes:

  1. 1. Constituency information represents constituency boundaries as at May 1997.
  2. 2. Parliamentary constituency data are only available from 1998 onwards.
  3. 3. Incomplete regional data also means that local authority or constituency estimates are not available for DLA prior to 1993. Reliable postcodes were held on the DLA computer system but the postcodes held on the Mobility Allowance and Attendance Allowance computer systems were unreliable and missing for many cases. The quarterly sample is drawn from all three computer systems and therefore the postcode data was incomplete.
  4. 4. Figures up to 1997 are rounded to the nearest hundred, based on either 1 per cent. or 5 per cent. sample data and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling error.
  5. 5. The years 1998 onwards which are based on 100 per cent. data and are not rounded.

Source:

Information Centre sample data (DLA)

(iii) Incapacity Benefit recipients
Year Leeds local authority Leeds, Central constituency
May 1995 21,100 —
May 1996 20,900 —
May 1997 19,800 —
May 1998 18,700 3,300
May 1999 17,600 2,900
May 2000 16,600 2,800

Notes:

  1. 1. Constituency information represents constituency boundaries as at May 1997.
  2. 2. Parliamentary constituency data are only available from 1998 onwards.
  3. 3. Incapacity Benefit replaced Sickness and Invalidity Benefits on 13 April 1995.Prior to this local authority information is not available, as postcodes were not present on the data sets.
  4. 4. The numbers are based on 5 per cent. sample data and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling error.
  5. 5. Numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred.
  6. 6. Incapacity Benefit figures exclude a small number of cases held clerically.
  7. 7. For Incapacity Benefit a rating factor has been used on figures for the Leeds Local Authority from May 1996 to May 1999, to account for missing postcodes.

Source:

Incapacity Benefit: Figures are taken from 5 per cent samples of the benefit computer system

(iv) Unemployment Benefit/Jobseeker's Allowance claimants by parliamentary constituency/local authority
Year Leeds local authority Leeds, Central constituency
November 1996 23,500 —
May 1997 20,500 —
May 1998 16,800 —
August 1998 — 4,900
May 1999 16,300 4,400
May 2000 14,900 4,300

Notes:

  1. 1. Constituency information represents constituency boundaries as at May 1997.
  2. 2. Parliamentary constituency data are only available from 1998 onwards.
  3. 3. Jobseeker's Allowance numbers include claimants receiving either Income-based and/or contribution-based JSA and claimants receiving no benefit, but sign for National Insurance credits only.
  4. 4. Jobseeker's Allowance replaced Unemployment Benefit and Income Support for the unemployed from October 1996. The Benefits Agency does not hold figures for Unemployment Benefit by either parliamentary constituency or local authority.
  5. 5. Estimates for local authority areas or parliamentary constituency are not available for Unemployment Benefit.
  6. 6. Numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred.
  7. 7. The numbers are based on 5 per cent. sample data and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling error.

Source:

Jobseeker's Allowance Statistics Quarterly Enquiries, November 1996 to May 2000 (5 per cent. samples)

(v) Housing Benefit recipients
Year Leeds local authority
May 1992 71,970
May 1993 72,760
May 1994 72,910
May 1995 73,550
May 1996 72,500
May 1997 69,950
May 1998 67,590
May 1999 65,720
May 2000 62,840

Notes:

  1. 1. Parliamentary constituency data are unavailable for Housing Benefit.
  2. 2. Housing Benefit figures are rounded to the nearest ten.
  3. 3. Housing Benefit figures are based on 100 per cent. data.
  4. 4. Housing Benefit data refer to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.
  5. 5. Housing Benefit figures exclude Extended Payment cases, which were only available from May 1997.

Source:

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit quarterly 100 per cent. case load counts taken on the second Thursday in May of each year quoted.